Vendor Profiles
Vendor Profile: Staying positive and being yourself
When I went to meet and interview Chandler Jacoby one sunny morning, I recognized him from his other sales site on Southwest Broadway and Washington. Like many Street Roots vendors and customers, Chandler and I knew each other by face, but did not know each other’s names. I would always see him standing outside of…
News
Ladies and gentleman, friends and neighbors: Todd Snider
Beaverton-native Todd Snider may just be the most honest person in the music industry. If you are a conservative, Christian, right-wing Republican, straight, white, American male or female, you may find his honesty irritating. That is the point. If you have heard him play a live show, you know that he can tell a story…
Tweets from the streets
Mark Horvath’s energy is contagious. The fast-talking social media expert and founder of InvisiblePeople.tv recently captivated a venue full of mostly marketing professionals in Seattle at an event sponsored by Social Media Club. Popularly known by his Twitter handle @hardlynormal, Horvath travels the world creating videos of homeless people as they tell their stories, and…
Add it up: Health Share looks at ways to merge health care and affordable housing
There’s a lot of money — and lives — resting on Oregon’s grand experiment in restructuring health care through Medicaid. Portland metropolitan area’s largest coordinated care organization, Health Share of Oregon, like others across the state, have a mandate to serve more, serve better, and do so with less. With that on their plate, social-service…
Discrimination ban on Section 8 to become law
For people who use a federal housing voucher subsidy to rent an apartment, one phrase has been a constant barrier: “No Section 8.” Under Oregon law, and despite a whole list of equal rights protections for renters, landlords could legally bar anyone who received Section 8 housing assistance from consideration at tenants. This session’s passage…
Opinion
Street Biography: Keith
Keith, who is turning 35 this summer, left an abusive home when he was 16 and spent years on the streets, first in his hometown of Klamath Falls and then in Portland. “When I got to Portland, I was 18 and I didn’t look for services. My mom always said I’d never be able to…
Terrence Jones: A teachable moment
I’ve been a fan of NBA basketball for a long, long time. I’ve also worked with people experiencing homelessness for more than 15 years on the streets of Portland and Seattle. When I read that Terrence Jones, Portland native and NBA player alledgedly stomped on an individual experiencing homelessness just one block from the Street…
Housing a logical prescription in health care reform
Oregon is at the forefront of health care reform. Both national and local media, including Street Roots, has been covering the planned changes over the past two years. More recently, a multi-million dollar ad campaign has begun to educate residents on what’s becoming available and how the new health care system will work. Go to…
Summertime — when the giving is easy!
The Street Roots online auction is live, running today through Monday, July 29, at www.streetrootsauction.org. Visit the site and you’ll have a chance to support Street Roots and get some great items in return. The organization moved the auction from October to July, with the hopes of giving people the opportunity to support Street Roots…
Veterans, families, renters make gains in legislative session
In the several months prior to every Oregon legislative session, housing advocates come together under the umbrella of the Oregon Housing Alliance to set goals and put together proposals for consideration by our Legislature in the coming session. All of our work is in hope of being able to increase opportunity for Oregonians by making…
Next steps on downtown homelessness in Portland
The past two weeks have been chock full of tragic events, bad press and anxiety on the streets, specifically downtown. A group of kids, presumably homeless, attacked a 70-year old employee of the Portland Outdoor Store downtown. He was hospitalized after a blow to the head. This comes after months of frustration and advocacy by…
